Five Gift Ideas for the Security Conscious Homeowner

Five Gift Ideas for the Security Conscious Homeowner

If you are scrambling to get some last-minute holiday shopping completed but are having trouble coming up with affordable gift ideas, then we’ve got you covered. Here are five creative and useful gift ideas for the security-conscious homeowner on your holiday shopping list.

RFID Wallet

RFID wallets are a type of wallet designed to help protect you against a form of identity theft where criminals can steal personal information including credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers, and passport information simply by standing near you.

How can this happen? Well, some credit cards, driver’s licenses, and passports use radio frequency identification chips that, when activated, transmit certain information wirelessly. They were designed to make life easier for the user, but criminals quickly figured out that anyone with an RFID reader could activate the chips in the cards and grab the information if they were standing close enough.

RFID wallets are made using materials that block the wireless signals of these cards. There are many brands of RFID wallets, some of which work better than others, so do your research before buying one. Although the type of crime these wallets are designed to prevent is becoming less of a problem as credit card technology is updated, it is still a possibility, and since RFID wallets don’t cost much more than regular wallets, they could make for a nice gift for someone who needs a new wallet anyway.

Shredders

Another way that someone could steal your personal information is by going through your trash and looking for bank statements, credit card statements, bills, receipts, or other communication that you’ve thrown out and forgotten about. Even if criminals can’t get enough information directly off a bank statement to hack into your account, they could get enough information to target you with phishing scams.

One way to make this more difficult is to shred all your important documents before throwing them away. Shredders designed for home use are very affordable and are carried at most office supply stores, so they could be a great last-minute gift for someone on your shopping list who doesn’t have one.

Self Defense Keychains

The first two gifts on our list might help protect the personal identity of your loved ones from criminals, but they won’t do much to protect them from physical harm if they’re confronted by a criminal in a dark parking garage or street corner. For help with that, a self-defense keychain might come in handy.

A self-defense keychain is a regular keychain that has some sort of attachment that allows it to be used as a weapon. It could be a stick that allows the user to swing the keys on the chain at an attacker, or even a small sprayer containing mace or pepper spray. This is a great gift for college students, runners, or anyone who must frequently walk through hazardous or deserted areas after dark.

Personal Protection Alarms

A great compliment to a self defense keychain, a personal protection alarm is a small battery-powered device that, when activated, emits a loud noise that will get the attention of anyone in the area. Some personal protection alarms also incorporate a panic whistle as a backup in case the battery fails. Most of them cost less than $20 and would make a great stocking-stuffer for anyone on your holiday shopping list who is worried about their personal physical safety.

Safes and Lock Boxes

If your budget is a little larger, another great gift for security-conscious homeowners on your list is a safe or lock box. There are many varieties of safes depending on what it is you are trying to secure (jewelry, guns, documents, etc), but the intent is the same–making it much more difficult for anyone other than intended users to gain access to whatever is inside.

When burglars break into a home, they know that they need to get in and out as quickly as possible. They will usually just grab whatever they see that is of value and ignore everything they can’t easily carry out. If they encounter a locked safe that is secured to the wall or floor, chances are good that whatever is inside will not be stolen in the case of a burglary.

All of the above options are great gift ideas for homeowners worried about security. However, if you want to give a loved one the ultimate security gift, you could get them a monitored alarm system from Dynamark Security or a home security camera. Contact our office to learn about how we can help you give the gift of security.